This May marks the 85th anniversary of the May 15 Plot, the 1932 assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, part of an attempted coup d'etat by military officers. The assassins killed PM Inukai at his home, and then drove themselves directly to the police and confessed. The plotters also attacked some other politicians and important buildings. The overall plot failed to overthrow the government, yet it still marked a victory for the militaristic right-wing and the beginning of the end of democracy in pre-war Japan, as the PM's killers were let off with slaps on the wrist.

​What moves this sad incident into the realm of Weird IR is the not-so-well-thought-out side plot to also kill world famous superstar Charlie Chaplin. The plotters planned to carry out the assassination at the exact time that the actor best known to the world as The Tramp was visiting Japan and staying at the PM's residence.

PM Tsuyoshi Inukai

The plotters had hoped to kill Chaplin in the hopes that his death would drag the U.S. into war with Japan. Yes, Chaplin really was that important a movie star at the time, but would his death have triggered a U.S.-Japan war? Probably not. The junior officers behind the plot obviously weren't the smartest people around.

How did Chaplin escape death? He happened to be out at a sumo match that night with Inukai's son, Takeru Inukai (who would later become a noted politician in his own right). Four sumo tournaments a year occurred during that era, and the May 1932 tournament, at which Chaplin was in the audience on at least one night, was won by Tamanishiki Sanemon, a great big chap who dominated the sport in the 1930s.